Tracing the Tribe is a blog about Jewish genealogy - All the developments, tools and resources you'll need to peer more closely into your family tree. Created in 2006 at JTA's request, it is now independent.

Written by Bret Petersen who developed a love of family history research at a young age. He's the webmaster of the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group, a member of the Genealogical Speakers Guild and serves on the Utah Genealogical Association’s Education Committee and is working towards professional genealogist accreditation. He has an online family history site where he shares information with his relatives. He loves teaching and helping others learn all they can about using technology in researching their family history.

"I love history (thanks Dad!). I love a mystery. I have an inquiring mind. I love a good story. I see dead people (not really, I was on a roll….) Researching family history encompasses all of these traits. It really is a natural for me"

Kevin Huigens is an amateur genealogist and family historian. "I love the detective work and research that goes into tracking down details on my ancestors lives. I bash my head against the brick walls until they come down. I also enjoy writing and my blog is a great way to practice. I try to post all of the interesting little pieces of family history I turn up. I occasionally use the many blogging prompts for genealogists to spur me into blogging action."

On November 6, 1965, Gerald Kline (24) and his wife Linda (20) were traveling down the highway near Fresno, California when a car traveling in the opposite direction crossed lanes and collided with them head-on. Gerald, Linda and their 13-month old, Theresa Robin, were all killed. Gerald’s two young sons, Jerry (4) and Paul (3), who were playing on the floor in the back seat, were the only Kline survivors.

I am Courtney, daughter of Jerry Kline. This blog is the story of my efforts to find out everything I can about my grandparents. My dad doesn’t know much about his family. He can’t remember anything before the accident. I want to know who there were, how they fell in love, who their friends were. I want to know everything.

Dates are only the skeleton of the stories which should be told about the ordinary or extraordinary lives of our ancestors. Finding clues to how they lived puts flesh on those bones and makes the old photographs glow with life.

The suffrage campaign wagon used by Edna Buckman Kearns on Long Island and in New York City parades is an example of the extensive use of “visual rhetoric” used by the suffragists in addition to the written and spoken word. This wagon also tapped into the tradition of the American Revolution by the question posed whenever Edna spoke in public: “If taxation without representation was tyranny in 1776, why not in 1913?” The wagon’s name, the “Spirit of 1776,” also was a crowd pleaser.

I started researching the Gunzendorfers about a year ago and have branched out in so many directions with the help of my partner-in-genealogy, Jan. I’ve learned that my 5th great grandfather on my mother’s side, Ashbel Waller, served in the Revolutionary War. And his grandson, Emery Waller, (my 3rd great grandfather) served in the Civil War. I’ve learned that just like my grandmothers told me when we gave our daughter the middle name of Rebecca, both of their grandmothers really were named Rebecca (Steen and Waller). I’ve learned that my dad’s family really are Jewish and that the Jews in California have been studied and researched – a lot. And while I’m not ready to throw in the towel just yet, I’ve learned that there really might not be any Gunzendorfers left in the United States. Who knew Mom might be right?

Read more about each new-found blog at the post link above or at each individual blog link.

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About Me

Schelly Talalay Dardashti has tracked her family history through Belarus, Russia, Lithuania, Spain, Iran and elsewhere. A journalist, her articles on genealogy have been widely published. In addition to genealogy blogging (since 2006), she speaks at Jewish and general genealogy conferences, co-founded GenClass.com. Past president of the five-branched JFRA Israel, a Jewish genealogical association, she is a member of several professional organizations.

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